Debating Whether Healthcare Costs Rising Is Essential
The ever-increasing costs of healthcare have often been the subject of much public outcry, and perhaps, back at home, there is indeed an urgent need to address the problem. Singapore’s medical costs are “projected to rise at a faster pace than most of the region”, and this is on top of the very fact that our healthcare costs are already the subject of many locals’ complaints. Why are such essential costs rising? Is healthcare a basic human right? This argumentative essay will give answers to both questions.
No doubt, our ageing population plays a key role in the situation. Elderly patients are often associated with weaker immune systems and thus a higher number of illnesses as compared to their younger counterparts. For the elderly with chronic conditions, re-admission rates are high. Our demand for medical services seem to be growing with no signs of stopping, but it is not matched by a corresponding rise in supply, which would then lead to inflation of healthcare costs. Looking deeper into this facet of the problem, it was discovered that one of the factors was “a lack of coordinated care and support for patients - such as follow-up visits by doctors and nurses in their homes - prevented them from taking charge of their health”.
Another aspect is the increasing diagnostic costs per capita. This 'trend driven by an ageing population and high prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cancers' causes diagnostic costs to outweigh medical fees at the outpatient level. Other factors contributing to the issue also includes the “availability of advanced medical technology” and the “appeal of medical tourism”, which again contributes to the climbing demand that consistently outstrips supply, thus causing healthcare costs to continue increasing.
An obvious impact of such increasing costs is simply the fact that people who do not have the resources to seek medical help would be denied medical attention, or would have to resort to self-medication which may be dangerous should one overdose. Yet, if we were to look at the root cause of demand outstripping supply, we would realise that the consequences include the lack of hospital beds, and many other medical-related issues that we face today.
As someone intending to major in sociology, it is unavoidable that I would immediately link the increasing costs of healthcare to the topic of social inequality. The access to healthcare is a basic human right, and should the access be restricted because of the increasing costs, those at the bottom rung of society will suffer the most. The middle-low income group is not spared either, with a larger part of income going towards healthcare, resulting in lesser disposable income.
Can this problem be solved by computational thinking? If we were to derive the solution from the root cause of demand being much more than supply, we see that we can use computational thinking to figure out how to use the medical resources we currently have more efficiently to satisfy demand better. Although we may not be able to resolve the problem totally (by ensuring that all demand is satisfied), computational thinking can assist in reducing urgent demand.
In conclusion, care beyond hospitals can help to reduce urgent and immediate demand, and a current idea implemented “includes post-discharge visits to patients' homes by nurses and care workers to ensure that they remain well'. Computational thinking can come in then, to work out a more efficient schedule to maximise the number of such post-discharge visits. By reducing demand, the costs of healthcare can then increase at a slower rate, or perhaps even maintain its current cost levels, and thus help to alleviate the issue.
